I was astonished and distressed to read in the Pakistan Times of December 30, 1978 about your address in Lahore on the previous day, in which you have expressed your hostility towards the elected Government of the people whom you incorrectly accused of dodging Islam. Moreover, you went further and gave your political view by expressing satisfaction with usurpation on empty slogans and, consequently, of dissatisfaction with constitutional methods of government formation.

According to the Pakistan Times, you accused “the previous regimes” of “dodging” the enforcement of Islamic laws. You have condemned all Governments from the Government of Quaid-I-Azam to the Government of Quaid-i-Awam on the question of Islam. May I remind you that the facts are to the contrary. It is universally accepted that the contributions of the Pakistan Peoples Party Government to the cause of Islam are unparalleled. You will recall that most of the appeals made by Muslim States when the death sentence was pronounced by a lower court, cited my husband, Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s, service to the cause of Islam and of Muslims. I consider it my moral duty to remind you of only some of the steps taken by my husband’s representative government for the enhancement of Islam:

1. A unanimously adopted Islamic Constitution;

2. A Ministry of Religious Affairs was created to look after matters relating to Islam and to implement the Islamic provisions of the Constitution;

3. The formation of the Council of Islamic Ideology;

4. Making the printing of an error-free Holy Quran a constitutional obligation;

5. Removing all restrictions on the performance of Haj thus putting an end to the quota system which hindered the free flow of pilgrims to the Holy Land;

6. Making Islamiyat compulsory from primary to matric;

7. Setting up Auqaf Ministries;

8. Encouraging the learning of Arabic throughout the country and taking concrete innovative steps such as teaching through the visual media;

9. Setting up the Ruet i Hilal Committee to remove the cause of difference on the occasion of Eid celebrations;

10. Holding the Second Islamic Summit Conference to contribute to the strengthening of Islamic solidarity.

The military regime, on the other hand, has thrown around slogans as empty as the stomach of the man on the street. Even the so-called stalwarts of Pakistan National Alliance are saying that Nizam-i-Mustafa has not been implemented.

Mr. Chief Justice, when you allowed my husband to appear before the Supreme Court it was interpreted by us as perhaps bias being abandoned in favour of justice. That is why my husband did not elaborate on the applications of bias against you, nor did he dwell on other points of bias, which I do not wish to embarrass you about. Alas, with your latest statement, attacking my husband’s Government and lavishly praising the military regime, all our apprehensions have once again surfaced.

You have further implied your satisfaction with the particular manner in which the military regime came into being, thus conveying your appreciation of usurpation, and antagonism towards the democratic form of government of which my husband has the honour of being the twice – and only – directly elected Prime Minister.

Believe me, Mr. Chief Justice, your views, blatantly false as they are, would not have distressed me if you did not at this very moment hold the pen with which you are writing the Judgment in my husband’s appeal. Espousing such controversial views, do you think it fair to write the Judgment in my husband’s appeal? There is, however, no such apprehension regarding the remaining members of the Bench. But, after your unfortunate remarks at such an inopportune time, there is bound to be skepticism about the impartiality of your Judgment. I would urge you in the interest of justice and in the interest of strengthening judicial institutions, not to write the Judgment in my husband’s appeal.

I have been sorrowfully compelled into making this request because you chose to completely identify yourself with the military regime even at this critical juncture when the ink with which you write the Judgment still flows.